Extractor



March 1', 193 2. A H; ADAMS 1.s47,159

EXTRAC TOR Filed Oct/25, 192a 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 k INVENTOR:

' -ARTHQR H. PiPAMs ATTQRNEY A. H. ADAMS I 1,847,159

EXTRACTOR March 1, 1932.

2 Shets-Sheet 2 iled Oct. 25. 1928 INVENTORI- ARTHU R u. A PAM sATTORNEY made more complete.

Patented M... 1, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARTHUR H. ADAMS; orYONKERS, NEW YoRx', ASSIGNOR 'ro rRoY LAUNDRY ma- CHINERY COMPANY, rNc.,or NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION or DELAWARE EXTBACTOB Applicationfiled October 25, 1928. Serial No. 314,921.

This invention relates to machines for centrifugally treating materials,especially to machines for centrifugally extracting fluid from fibrousmaterial such as clothes.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved method andapparatus for balancing centrifugal extractor baskets.

Another object is the provision of a method of extracting fluid from afibrous mass, whereby the time of extracting is lessened and thedraining of fluid from the mass is In accordance with my invention acentrifugal machine is provided with a rotor or basket which is sosupported as to permit both translational and rotational motion. It isrotated by the application, through a flexible transmission, of asubstantially pure torque. As is well known, pure torque applied to abody free to move as described will cause the body to turn about itscenter of mass and not necessarily about the place where the torque isapplied. A difficulty arises from the fact that the flexibletransmission does not always transmit pure torque, but sometimestransmits a translational force tending to make the rotor revolve aboutthe fixed shaft to which the transmission is coupled. By mounting therotor, through anti-friction bearings, on a support which slides on atable, the resistance to turning is cut down.

.This reduces the torque necessary to overflooding is twofold as it notonly floats the clothes sufficiently to cause more or less evendistribution but also, upon the slow recession of the fluid from therotor, tends to draw moisture from the clothes or other fibrous maandadvantages, and the manner of attaining 1 them will be made clear in thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

In the drawings Fig. 1 illustrates in vertical section a centrifugalmachine construct- Fig.6 isa sectional view taken along lines 66 of Fig.1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, reference numeral 1indicates the housing of a centrifugal extractor. The housing 1 issupported by pedestal 2 and carries centrally positioned with respect tothe base portion 3 a bearing 4. This bearing serves to support one endof a pulley 5, the other end of which is supported by another bearing 6positioned in a bracket arm 7 attached to the base plate. Placed abovethe base portion 3 is asupporting plate 8 which is slidably supported onthe base portion by means of a fiat projecting ring bearing member 9.This bearin with a corresponding smooth bearing surface on the baseportion 3. For holding the supporting plate in its proper position andpreventing vertical movement thereof, a holding ring 11 is provided.This ring is secured by screws 12 toa raised annular ring portion 13 ofthe base plate. The entire supporting plate 8 is intended freely to movewith respect to the base portion 3 and hence member is provided with asmooth bearing surface 10 which co-operates is thoroughly lubricated byoil or grease. In

order to insure thorough lubrication of the bearing surfaces the outeredge of the supporting plate is provided with an oil groove 14 and thesides of the supporting plate are cut awayat 15 and 16 in order toinsure free access of the lubricant to the bearing surface. Secured tothe supporting plate 8 is an upstanding hub 17 which carries at itslower part next to the plate proper, a ball bearmg 18 and at its upperend a ball bear1ng 19,. Supported by these two ball bearings 1s a rotoror basket 20 which serves to hold the mass of material to be treated bythe machine. In order to drive the'rotor a short shaft 21 is connectedwith the basket 20 by means of a universal joint 22 and with the pulley5 by means of a universal joint 23. The pulle 5 is rotated through aseries of belts 24 passing around a pulley 25 attached to the shaft ofan electric motor 26, which motor is fastened to the housing 1. In orderto prevent rotat on of the supporting plate 8 during the drivrng of therotor by the electric motor, a plurality of holding springs 27 isprovided. These springs are secured at one end to the base portion 3 andat the other end to a projection 28 joined to the plate 8. Theprojection 28 passes down through an-opening 29 1n the base portion 3which is made large enough to permit the maximum movement in alldirections, of the supporting plate 8 with respect to the base portion3, which is encountered during normal operation. The

' upper side of this opening has an annular rim 30 which prevents oilfrom leaking out. In order to carry off fluid expelled from theextractor basket a gutter 31 is provided. This gutter is provided with adrainage opening in the usual manner. In order to prevent oil that maydrop from the, bearings 18 and 19 from being thrown out of the machinethe supporting plate 8 is furnished with an upstanding inclined annularrim 32 which has adjacent the inside thereof a series of oil ducts 33.Any oil dropping down from the bearings travels out over the top of theplate until it strikes the rim 32 which deflects the oil downwardlythrough the ducts 33, from whence the oil passes outwardly underneaththe plate to thebearing surface 10.

Secured to the supporting plate 8 is an annular guard ring 34 whichserves to prevent water from splashing into the bearings of the machineduring operation thereof.

The inside walls of the rotoror extractor basket 20 are lined with aspring-like mat or mesh 35 which is in turn covered by a wire screen ofrelatively small mesh, 36. The functionof the mat and screen is to holdthe material in the basket away from the side walls thereof and therebypermit easy drainage of the fluid to the outlet openings. The side wallsof the basket, it will be noted, are inclined outwardly toward thecenter in barrel fashion. At the point of the largest diam- 'eter aseries of small holes 37 is provided. Fluid is supplied to the inside ofthe basket through a pipe 137 which has interconnected therein ashutofi' valve 38. This valve is of the automatic type and is arrangedto be shut off responsive to the attainment by the electric motor offull driving speed. The mechanism for operatin the valve comprises acontrol arm 39 havlng a snap-by spring 40 which is secured at its otherend to a stationary finger 41. The valve 38 is open when the arm 39 isin the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1. Slidably positionedaround the control arm 39 is a link 42. This link has a. lost motionslot 43 therein within which the arm 39 can act. The link is attached atits lower end to a cross head 44 slidably mounted on a rod 45 andforming part of a fly ball governor arrangement 46. The cross head 44 islinked to an arm 47 secured to the shaft of the motor by means of links48 which carry the governor balls.

"In operation when the motor 26 has attained its full operating speedthe cross head 44 is drawn down toward the arm 47 through the action ofthe fly balls sufiiciently to snap the valve operating arm 39 to itsclosed position as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Due to the action ofthe snap by spring 40 the closing of thevalve 38 is made to occursubstantially instantaneously upon the attainment of the proper rotor seed. When the motor is stopped, because 0 the lost motion slot 43 thevalve arm 39 will remain in its closed position until it is manuallyreset to its open position shown by the full lines in Fig. 1.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

Wet clothes or other similar materials are placed in the extractorbasket 20 and the valve 38 opened to admit a quantity of water to thebasket through the pipe 37. The water is allowed to flow into the basketuntil it slightly more than thoroughly saturates the clothes, the supplyof water furnished by the pipe 37 being suflicient to fulfill thisrequirement regardless of the amount of water flowing out through thedrainage holes 37. The electric motor 26 is then started, which causesthe basket, through the action of the shaft 21, to start rotating. Thebasket, due to the fact that it contains a fairly homogenous mass, willbe substantially in balance and will therefore rotate substantially onits geometric center, which is at the point of connection of the shaft21 with the universal joint 22. However, it probably will not be exactlyin balance and therefore will rotate-around its center'of mass, as it issubstantially free from lateral restraint, which is at a. point slightlydistant from the geometric center. Due to the supporting ofthe basket bythe ball bearings 18 and 19 very little friction resistance to rotationwill be encountered. The slight gyratory movement of the basket becausef the fact that it is not rotating around its geometric center, butaround its center of mass is easily accommodated by movement of thesupporting plate 8 onits bearing surface 10, the plate 8 being preventedfrom rotating with the basket by means of the holding springs 27. As thebasket continues to rotate, gradually approaching its normal operatingspeed, the clothes or other material within the basket, due to thepresence of the water which floods the basket are partially suspendedand therefore do not pack down in one position, but rather move aroundgradually and distribute themselves fairly regularly. There will be butlittle centrifugal force acting to force the clothes against the basketwall because of the hydrostatic pressure existing on both sides of themcaused by the water which is under pres" ure due to the centrifugalforce of rotation thereof. The basket, of course, attains its operatingspeed rather slowly and during the time interval the clothes or othermaterial within the basket will have arranged themselves due to partialfloatation in the water in a fairly well distributed manner..

As soon as normal operating speed is attained the fly ball governor 46draws the cross head 44 down far enough to snap the valve control arm 39to its closed position, thereby stop ping the flow of water in thebasket? The basket will now be filled with a sort of annulus of waterand clothes, the width of which is dependent on the width oftherim 49forming part of the basket 20.

As rotation of the basket is continued,-

water is forced out through the holes 37in the basket and carried awayinto the gutter 31 and thence to the drainage pipe. As the holes 37 aremade relatively small the water will not pass very quickly from themachine but the level of it will rather recede slowly. This slowrecession of the water through the clothes or other mass of materialcauses the clothes to be not only more quickly dried but also morethoroughly dried. The more thorough drying may be the result of severalactions. For one thing, the clothes are not packed solidly against theside of the basket because of the hydrostatic pressure of the waterwhich serves to float the clothes and keep them away from forciblecontact with the side walls. The water has therefore a fairly freepassage through the clothes and does not have to pass through a filtercomprising a solidly packed mass of damp clothes.

As the water recedes from the inside of the mass of clothes to theoutside, because of the relatively small size of the holes 37 all thewater that leaves the clothes will leave them through a mass of wetmaterial and there fore will leave comparatively freely. The clotheswill therefore be dried from the inside of the machine outwardly, ratherthan in the opposite manner as in an ordinary machine.

In supplying the extra fluid to the damp clothes before the machine isstarted care should be taken not to supply too great a surplus. This isfor the reason that, as is well known, a plain centrifugal extractorbasket when filled with water and accelerated in speed rapidly has atendency to vibrate strongly due to the surging of the mass of waterfrom side to side in the basket. In carrying out my invention it ispreferable to supply just suflicient water to slightly more thansaturate the clothes. The clothes "should be thoroughly Wet and thewater be sufliciently fluid to cause violent surging and consequentvibration when the basket is accelerated rapidly. Of course Where thelength of time necessary to bring the basket up to full speed is notimportant, any amount of water could be used in relation to the mass Iof clothes as vibration could easily be avoided by bringing the basketup to speed very slowly.

In the ordinary machine where the basket is made with an extremely largenumber of holes; water leaves the outer layer of clothes first becausethe moisture in the outer layer of clothes is subjected to a greatercentrifugal force than those on the inside. Those on the inside, becausethey are traveling in a circle of smaller radius, will be subject toless centrifugal force. In the ordinary machine, therefore, the layer ofclothes next to the inside wall of the basket tend to be dried first,then wet again by water coming from layers ofcloth-es nearer to the axisof rotation of the basket. \Vater from the layers of clothes nearer theaxis must therefore pass through a filter comprising a tight packed andrelatively dry layer of clothes. This fact retards the drying speed ofthe operation. Another reason for the quicker drying of clothes in amachine constructedin accordance with my invention appears to be that asthe level of the main body of water recedes relatively slowly throughthe clothes it tends to draw with-it by capillary attraction orcohesion, water droplets or films from the fibres forming the clothes,thereby producing a sort of stripping action. Hence, it is necessary inorder to secure optimum results to ad just the speed of recession of theWater through the clothes or other material to agree with the type ofmaterial acted on.

yDuring the draining operation the mat 35 and screen -36 keep thematerial within the basket away from the basket walls proper and therebypermit free drainage of fluid from the machine. This is a ratherimportant feature if no mat is provided, the flow will be greatlyretarded and the best results "therefore not obtained. Good results canbe as there is no drainage opening from thebasket until the proper speedhas been obtained. The basket is provided with a plurality of holes 51around the point of greatest diameter thereof. These holes open into anannular channel or conduit 52 which is provided with a plurality ofdrain valves 53. These drain valves are maintained closed by a spring 54interconnected with a lever arm pivotally secured to the valves.Pivotally connected to the opposite end of the level arm 55 is a valvearrangement 56 which controls the flow of fluid from a pipe 57communicating with the inside of the basket. The valve 56 when in theposition shown in Fig. 2, which is its position when the machine is atrest, partially throttles the opening in the pipe 57. As soon as thebasket 20 is set into rotation water gradually rises up the side wall ofthe basket due to centrifugal force and finally rises high enough toflow into the pipe 57 through which it is thrown by centrifugal forceagainst the valve 56. In passing by this valve, due to the throttlingaction thereof, sufficient pressure is exerted to rock the lever arm 55against the action of the spring 54 and plose the valve 56 firmly .onits seat preventing further flow of the water therethrough, while at thesame time opening valve 53 and'permitting water slowly to flow from thebasket. The operation of the machine then continues in exactly the samemanneras set forth in connection with the machine. shown in Fig-1. Assoon as the machine is'sto pped, the spring 54 rocks the lever arm 55closing the valve 53 and opening the valve 56. The valve 56 now beingopen, water therein flows out leaving the pipe 57 empty, ready foranother cycle of operations.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a machine having a plurality of siphon pipes 57which serves to withdraw water from the basket. With this machinethebasket is filled about half full of water, then started rotating. Assoon as the desired speed is reached the water rises over the bend inthe siphon, thereby filling the pipe full and causing water to beelected from the discharge portion 58 of the siphon under the influenceof the centrifugal force of rotation of the basket. The siphon actionwill continue until all of the water has been drained from the basket.When a centrifugal extractor basket is furnished with a siphon drainingarrangement such as shown in this figure care must be used properly tocorrelate the height through which the water must be lifted by thesiphon, with the centrifthe size of the loop in the siphon, must be madesmall enough to permit water to be siphoned out under atmospherepressure. a

It will be seenthat in order to fix the speed at which the drainingoperation in either one of the machines illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4starts, it is necessary merely to regulate the level to which the basketis initially loaded, the higher the level, the lower the rotationalspeed at which the drainage operation will commence. If it is desired tostartdraining only when a high speed is attained, a relatively smallload should be placed in the basket. v

In Fig. 5 I have shown a centrifugally operated valve mechanism inconjunction with a basket 20 provided with an annular channel 52similarly to the basket shown in Fig. 2. This annular conduit has spacedaround the periphery thereof a plurality of valves 59. These valves areof t e centrifugally operated type and comprise an arm 60 pivoted to thebasket at 61 and forced against openings in the conduit 52 by a spring62. The end of the arm 60 is provided with a gasket 63 of rubber or thelike, which fits tightly against the conduit 52 and prevents leakage offluid. When the speed of rotation of the basket has increased up to acertain point the centrifugal force is sufficient to rock the arm 60around the pivot 61 against the action of the spring 62 and remove thegasket 63 from the opening in the at a lower or higher speed, asdesired. In

order that the valve may be dependent for its operation upon a givenrotational speed of the basket without regard-to the pressure of thewater against the gasket 63, the size of the discharge openings in theconduit 52 should be made relatively small. However, if the speed of thebasket is increased slightly after the valves 59 open the slightdecrease in water pressure against the gaskets will not be suflicient tocause the valves to close when the basket becomes nearly dry.

In constructing the type of relief valve shown in this figure it may befound desirable in certain cases to make the valve in such manner thatonce it is opened at a given speed of rotation it will remain open evenif the speed of rotation is reatly reduced. This may be accomplished yreplacing the spring 62 with a spring, the resistance of which decreasesWith an increase in deflection resulting from the swinging of the arm16.

The extractor basket of this machine is mounted forfree rotation aroundits center of mass in substantially the same manner as set forth in mycopending application Serial No. 269,851 filed April 13, 1928. Inconstructing an extractor of this type it is necessary to avoid aslargely as possible any frictional drag on the basket, leaving it freeto turn as it will. Provided there is no frictional retarding forcepresent, the basket will rotate around its center of mass, which will bedetermined by the distribution of the clothes in the basket. Thefrictional forcestend to cause the basket to rotate around a point otherthan its center of mass, thereby producing harmful vibrations which mayincrease in amplitude sufficiently to cause damage to the machine. Ireduce the frictional forces to a low value in a machine constructed inaccordance with my present invention by mounting the rotating basket onball bearings or other bearings of the anti-friction type, on a hubsupported by a plate slidably positioned on a table or base portion,forming a part of the machine housing. The plate to which the hub-isattached is permitted a small amount of movement suflicient toaccommodate it to the eccentric movement of the basket rotating aroundits center of mass, and is retained in a normal position against thefrictional drag of the bearings which tend to rotate it, by holdingsprings. I reduce frictional resistance in the universal jointsconnecting the driving pulley with the basket by making the shaftinterconnecting the pulley with the basket relatively long so that theuniversal joints will have to turn through only a small angle duringoperation of the machine. When the basket is rotating, as the ballbearings are relatively small in diameter and located near to the axisof rotation but little frictional resistance would be encountered whenthe basket is rotating on its; geometrical center, especially when thiscenter is in line with the center of the driving pulley.

Then the basket is rotating in a slightly unbalanced condition therotation will take place around its center of mass which will be at apoint ofi center with respect to the geometrical center of the basketand this will cause an oscillatory movement of the plate to which thehub supporting the basket is attached. This movement will berelativelysmall, however, and hence the frictional forces producedthereby will be also relatively small. A machine of this type will worksat isfactorily even when damp clothes or other material are thrown intothe basket promiscuously. It sometimes happens that while the machinewill take care of lateral unbalance of the load, at high speedssufficient vertical unbalance may be present to cause vertical vibrationof the basket, which may become great enough to be detrimental to theoperation of the machine. By flooding the loaded basket with water orother fluid suflicient thoroughly to saturate the load, more perfectvertical balance, as well as lateral balance is obtained. The clothesare in a sense floated in the water and therefore are prevented frompacking tightly in a given position and are enabled to move aboutsufliciently to distribute themselves relatively evenly around theinside of the basket. This is especially true if the flooding water isheld in the basket until normal operating speed is attained. As thebasket accelerates the clothes distribute themselves more or less evenlyaround the inside of the basket, thereby perfectin the balance. Thewater being under the in uence of centrifugal force caused by rotationof the basket, will equalize hydrostatically the pressure on all sidesof the clothes, or other load in the basket, thereby preventing the samefrom packing tightly against the wall of the basket. This condition willobtain even if the water is permitted to leave the basket as describedabove. The level of the water, or tide, will go down gradually, therebydrying the layers of clothes next to the center of the basket first, atthe same time preventing the outer layers frompackin'g, therebypermitting free egress of water from the machine.

I have found that by controlling the speed at which the water flows fromthe basket so that the flow is relatively slow, that the dryingoperation as a whole can be speeded u and that the clothes in thisshorter'interva of time will be drier than when the machine is operatedin accordance with the prior practice. The water should be caused toflow from the basket slowly enough so that the tide or water levelrecedes relatively slowly t through the clothes. If this speed isselected properly the inside layers of clothes will be dried first. As Ihave stated heretofore, the action appears to be a combination of plaincentrifugal extraction of water from the fibers, with a stripping actionresulting from the capillarity or surface tension of the fluid,

which seems to cause the receding water to draw with it droplets ofwater, or moisture films in the clothes. There is always, of course, aforce of adhesion causing a water film or water droplets to adhere tothe fibres in wet clothes or other fibrous material. This force ofadhesion is normally sufficient to hold these water films or droplets onthe fibres during the extracting operation. However, if the speed ofrecession of the water level is made sufiiciently slow the force ofcohesion existing between the receding water body and the films or,water droplets on the fibres may be great enough to overcome themodifications and adaptations such as would force of adhesion of thesewater films or droplets to the fibres, and thereby causing a greatertotal amount of water to be removed. In any event, whatever this actionmay be, I have found that by controlling the rate of flow of water froma mass of fibrous material, so that level of the water recedes ratherslowly, that not only is time of complete drying reduced but also thatthe drying is made more perfect. This method of drying is workable notonly with a centrifugal machine but also with any straight drainingprocess where the clothes are placed in a sieve-like container and thewater allowed to drain from them by gravity. If the holes in thecontainer are made small enough so that the water level recedes ratherslowly the time of drying to a given degree of dryness is greatlyreduced, and conversely, if the time of drying is held the same, thedegrees of dryness will be appreciably increased.

While I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention as adaptedfor the drying of clothes or other fibrous materials, I believe that itis ca able of advantageous use in the removal 0 fluid from othermoisture retaining materials. I have described a particular embodimentof my invention for the purpose of illustration, but it will beunderstood that various occur to one skilled in the art may be madewithout a departure from the spirit of the invention, as set forth inthe appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. The method of separating fluid from moist absorptive material whichcomprises flooding said material with an added amount of said fluid,centrifuging said material for a time while maintaining the level ofsaid fluid, and then draining said fluid from said materialcentrifugally at a predetermined rate.

2. In a centrifugal drying machine comprising a basket havingperforations therein, means for conducting fluid into said basket, andmeans responsive to the attainment by said basket of normal extractingspeed, for stopping the flow of fluid from said means first mentioned. 1

3. A centrifugal extractor for laundry purposes, coinprising aperforated basket, a conduit forconducting fluid to said basket, a valvefor controlling the flow of fluid through said conduit, and meansresponsive to the attain nent by said basket of a certain predeterminedspeed for, closing said valve.

4. A centrifugal extractor according to claim 3 wherein the size of theperforations in the basket is so selected with res act to the 5. Acentrifugal extractor according to claim 3 wherein the means for closingthe valve comprises a centrifugally operated mechanism. r v

6. The method of balancing a centrifugal extractor having a load offibrous material in the basket thereof, which comprises partly fillingsaid basket with a liquid and substantially maintaining the level ofsaid liquid during an initial period of the rotation of the basket.

7. The method of evenly distributing a load of material in a centrifugalextractorbasket which comprises submerging said material in a li uid inthe basket and maintaining it so su merged until the extractor attainsits normal operating speed.

8. The method of evenly distributing fibrous material in the basket of acentrifugal extractor, which comprises flooding said basket with aliquid to support the material and preventing said liquid from leavingsaid basket until the said basket has been rotated suiiiciently toestablish the desired balance.

9. In a centrifugal extractor, a rotatable basket having a plurality ofsmall holes therein, a conduit for supplying water to said basket at arate at least equal to that at which it can escape through said holes, avalve for controlling the flow of said water and means responsive to theattainment by said basket of a certain predetermined speed, for closingsaid valve.

10. In a centrifugal extracto ga rotatable basket havin a linin ofrelatively thick spring material, said asket being formed with sidewalls which increase in diameter towards the center of the basket, theportions of the walls upon either side of the center of the basket beingsubstantially symmetrical and said walls being provided with a pluralityof holes disposed about the zone of largest diameter.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this20th day of l October, 1928.

ARTHUR H. ADAMS.

fluid output capacity of the conduit that the water introduced throughthe conduit is suf-

